Governors of Contrition
The Governors of Contrition are a fanatical fringe sect of the Covenant, predominantly Sangheili, who believe, like the rest of the Covenant before the Schism, in the Great Journey and that all Forerunner creations are sacrosanct. Unlike the rest of the Covenant and the Sangheili, however, they have adopted the belief that the Flood is a creation of the Forerunners, and so hold that the Flood is worshipful and infection should be embraced. This put them on the fringe of the Covenant, and unlike most, they have clung on to their beliefs even after the Schism, still seeing the destruction of Humanity and the start of the Great Journey as the will of the Gods. They acquired significant political influence within the New Covenant during the late 2550s and early 2560s, leading to their takeover in 2564 and the outbreak of the Second Great War in 2565. Since their defeat, they have become a proscribed organisation in the UNSC, SAF, USE, and the New Covenant's successor states, though underground practice still exists. History Though they existed before the Great Schism, the Governors of Contrition experienced a pronounced resurgence after the Great Schism, especially amongst the more conservative members of the Sangheili who, though they agreed with the secession from the Covenant, disagreed with the theological and political outcomes. The cult had historically been tolerated by the Covenant because, despite the differences, it still paid homage to the Prophets, but afterwards most of the Governors were exiled by the Sangheili. Establishing themselves on the fringes of Sangheili space, the Governors attracted a sizeable number of warriors who still believed in the Great Journey. Controlling a mere three worlds, the Treaty of Unexpected Clarity between the Governors of Contrition and the Acolytes of Devotion saw a merge between the two, giving the Governors access to the borders of the Sangheili Armed Forces and the New Covenant, acquiring sizeable political influence in the latter. With their expansion came a schism of their own. While the bulk remained with the more accepted Governor doctrines, more radical elements splintered into the Acolytes of Devotion. During the early days of the Great Schism, an Acolyte force attempted to reach and claim a Labyrinth world, Mandorla, a former UNSC colony glassed early in the war by the Covenant. While it would eventually fail, this would set into motion events that would come to a head during the Second Great War - the realisation by the SAF that religious extremists were as much a threat to themselves as to their enemies, the activation of a small automated Forerunner reconnaissance force, and the priming of the Nexus. Later, the Governors of Contrition would seek to finish the earlier splinter-cell's goal, hoping to use Forerunner relics to usher in the Great Journey. To accomplish this, the Governors began their infiltration of what they percieved as the most vulnerable faction, the New Covenant. Initially offering their talents as mercenaries, the New Covenant gladly accepted the services of battle hardened tactical and strategic commanders. As they served during the War of Vengeance, they earned much favour among the Hierarchs, including ceremonial privileges and self-autonomy. The Jiralhanae saw the entrance of the Governors as a threat to their status, and hoped to prevent their entry; ironically mirroring the sequence of events that led to the Sangheili's downfall in the first place. Most clans, however, chose to ignore the Prophets' bias in favour of proving themselves and their skill and loyalty, or fighting for the sake of fighting. By the time the Jiralhanae as a whole realised just how much of a threat the Governors posed, it was too late - their warriors had infiltrated the highest echelons of New Covenant society, placed near key targets to swiftly and efficiently take control. Capturing the Prophet of Piety relatively easily, the Governors executed or imprisoned most of the rest of the High Council and used the Hierarch to form a puppet government to further their goals. The other two Hierarchs, while not as influential, would prove more troublesome, retreating to Victorious Avowal with loyal fleets and legions to form a resistance. Most of the Jiralhanae forces nevertheless remained loyal to the Prophet of Piety, assured that the Governors spoke for the Prophet and that their will was his - others, such as the remnant of the Brotherhood of Ruskt, saw through the Governors lies and rallied to the calls of the Prophets of Devotion and Protestation. Mobilising their fleets, the Governors assaulted Victorious Avowal, killing the Prophet of Protestation and forcing the Prophet of Devotion to flee to Sangheili territory to warn them of the mutual threat and seek an alliance. With their most urgent threat nullified, the Governors turned to the task of defeating the UNSC and SAF in attacks swift and damaging enough to discourage a counterattack. Being Sangheili, they deemed their compatriots to be the greater threat, and turned to the more advanced but still recovering UNSC first. Although their forces were still reeling from the schism between loyalist and separatist New Covenant forces, the Governors still retained the majority of their fleets and legions, and were quite capable of launching attacks against half a dozen UNSC worlds, and struck hard and fast against military centres and ship construction yards. The UNSC suffered major defeats at Tau Ceti and Upsilon Andromedae, major industrial colonies, and only barely managed to evacuate the personnel from the Solitude mining base in the Van Maanen's Star system. There were a few victories for the UNSC, especially at Alpha Centauri and the recolonised Reach, but for the most part the UNSC suffered tremendous damage to its military capacity, knocking it out of the early war until it could recover, forcing the Sangheili Armed Forces to take the brunt of the Governors' wrath until 2567. Though the UNSC remembers this period as one of Stalemate, with very little human involvement as shipyards churned out ships and recruitment drives bolstered the armed forces, the reality for the SAF and Governors is quite different. Over the next two years, the war became an elaborate chess match - planets captured and recaptured, fleets destroyed and replaced, assassins targeting leaders of the other side. At the same time, the Governors faced an insurgency led by the Prophet of Devotion and his loyal followers, still seeking diplomatic contact with the Sangheili but unable to achieve this until 2567. The fact that the Governors had knocked the UNSC out of the early stages, held the Brotherhood of Ruskt off and were still able to wage a campaign against the SAF, is a testament to their tactical and strategic brilliance. A 2566 raid against Delta Halo saw fighting rage on the ringworld's surface a second time, halted only by the UNSC's threat to destroy the installation with a NOVA bomb rather than allow it to fall into Governor hands, forcing the Governors to withdraw. With Alpha Halo destroyed in 2552, Delta Halo under UNSC and SAF guard, and the other installations too far away and at unknown locations, the Governors eventually concluded that the Halo Array was beyond their ability to activate, and searched for other obscure relics. Beliefs Although regarded by many within the Old Covenant as a reclusive religious sect, fanatical even by Covenant standards, they recieved toleration because the bulk of their beliefs were deemed to be acceptable to the rule of the Prophets, and in line with Covenant doctrine and canon. A few points of contention saw them marginalised politically and socially, such as their extreme emphasis on the sanctity of Forerunner creations - high-ranking members regularly made a point of protesting the acquisition and reverse-engineering of any Forerunner technologies, even by the Prophets, regarding such an act tantamount to sacrelege. Councillor Thun 'Oldamakree, the first and only Councillor to be a member of the sect, would be the only dissenting voice among the High Council when an expedition force was launched to secure and explore the recently discovered Halo, resigning in protest at such disrespect for Forerunner relics. There are other differences in ideology that mark the Governors apart from regular Sangheili or Covenant society, but the biggest one was that the Flood were a creation of the Forerunners, and therefore a "perfect" creation of the Gods. While all factions have theories on the Flood's origins, there is little to no evidence that it was created by the Forerunners, if at all - nevertheless, ever since the Flood's rediscovery in 2531 Governor efforts have sought to spread the "word" of the Flood's purity, claiming that the Flood is to be embraced rather than sterilised. Though their views on relic sanctity have always been widely held among the Sangheili, this sacred regard for the "Abomination" that nearly defeated the Forerunners created considerable distrust among the Covenant. Even as an offshoot of the main Covenant religion, the Governors have had their own fragmentations into sects and cults wth differing beliefs. The Acolytes of Devotion, for example, believed that the Halo Array was merely a beacon to light the true way, and promoted belief in the mythical "Labyrinth" network instead. The Devotees of Light preferred to regard the legend of the Halo's as a metaphor for inner enlightenment, and the Flood as representating the forces of chaos - neither purely good or purely evil, but destructive and creative. On the whole, though, these sub-splinterings were few as Governor leaders reigned in wayward members and consolidated themselves as a "respectable" portion of Covenant society. Organisation Notable members Category:War of Vengeance Category:Labyrinth Category:Covenant remnants